saw

See also SAW

English

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Pronunciation

Etymology 1

A saw—a tool

From Middle English sawe, from Old English saga, sagu (“saw”), from Proto-Germanic *sagô, *sagō (“saw”), from Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”). Cognate with Dutch zaag (“saw”), German Säge (“saw”), Swedish såg (“saw”), Icelandic sög (“saw”), Latin secō (“cut”).

Noun

saw (plural saws)

  1. A tool with a toothed blade used for cutting hard substances, in particular wood or metal
  2. A musical saw.
  3. A sawtooth wave.
Derived terms
Terms derived from saw (noun)
Translations
tool
musical saw — see musical saw
sawtooth wave — see sawtooth

Verb

saw (third-person singular simple present saws, present participle sawing, simple past sawed, past participle sawed or sawn)

  1. (transitive) To cut (something) with a saw.
  2. (intransitive) To make a motion back and forth similar to cutting something with a saw.
    The fiddler sawed away at his instrument.
  3. (intransitive) To be cut with a saw.
    The timber saws smoothly.
  4. (transitive) To form or produce (something) by cutting with a saw.
    to saw boards or planks (i.e. to saw logs or timber into boards or planks)
    to saw shingles; to saw out a panel
Related terms
Translations
cut with a saw
make a motion back and forth as with a saw

Etymology 2

From Middle English sawe, from Old English sagu, saga (“story, tale, saying, statement, report, narrative, tradition”), from Proto-Germanic *sagō, *sagǭ (“saying, story”), from Proto-Indo-European *sekʷe-, *skʷē- (“to tell, talk”). Cognate with Dutch sage (“saga”), German Sage (“legend, saga, tale, fable”), Danish sagn (“legend”), Norwegian soga (“story”), Icelandic saga (“story, tale, history”). More at saga, say.

Noun

saw (plural saws)

  1. (obsolete) Something spoken; speech, discourse.
    • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book V:
      And for thy trew sawys, and I may lyve many wynters, there was never no knyght better rewardid [...].
  2. (often old saw) A saying or proverb.
  3. (obsolete) opinion, idea, belief; by thy ~, in your opinion; commune ~, common opinion; common knowledge; on no ~, by no means.
    Þe more comoun sawe is þat Remus was i-slawe for he leep ouer þe newe walles of Rome. — Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden
  4. (obsolete) proposal, suggestion; possibility.
    All they assentyd to the sawe; They thoght he spake reson and lawe. — Earl of Toulouse
Synonyms
Translations
saying or proverb

Etymology 3

See see.

Verb

saw

  1. Simple past of see.

Statistics

Anagrams

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Kurdish

Noun

saw gender unspecified

  1. terror
  2. horror
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Scots

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sa/ (Doric & most Southern Scots dialects)
  • IPA: /sɔ/ (Central & some Southern Scots dialects)

Verb

saw

  1. (South Scots) Simple past of sei.
  2. (N. & C. Scots) Simple past of see.
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Last modified on 19 May 2013, at 19:29